Quranic root
طفل
ṭ · f · l
The root centers on the small, tender young one and the qualities associated with that state.
From the young one's tenderness and the care given to young-bearing animals, the lexical field extends to softness, early or late transitional times, childhood, and several derived natural and social descriptions.
- Maqāyīs · row 3041
- Mufradāt · row 902
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
طِفْلٌ
ṭiflun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A young human child, especially one in the tender stage of infancy and childhood.
In Quranic usage, the form appears both as a singular referring to the child stage and in collective or plural expressions for children. The child stage is described in relation to early development, lack of awareness of sexual privacy, and the transition to puberty.
- Lane · entry 11458
- Mufradāt · row 902
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:5word 37
“(as) a child”
Quran 24:31word 56
“[the] children”
Quran 24:59word 3
“the children”
Quran 40:67word 14
“(as) a child”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 22:5طِفْلًۭا(as) a child
- 24:31ٱلطِّفْلِ[the] children
- 24:59ٱلْأَطْفَـٰلُthe children
- 40:67طِفْلًۭا(as) a child
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 34 Classical meanings
طَفُلَ
To be or become soft or tender.
Applied to things generally.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفَلَ
To enter the time called طَفَل.
A conventional temporal use; the cited lexical discussion reports contrasting applications of the time-name.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفَلَتِ الشَّمْسُ
The sun rose.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفَلَتِ الشَّمْسُ
The sun reddened at setting, inclined toward setting, or approached its setting.
A temporal description of the sun near the end of its course.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفَلَتِ الحُمُرُ العُشْبَ
To graze vegetation so as to raise dust over it.
A conventional transitive construction describing grazing that soils or dusts the vegetation.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفِلَ / طُفِلَ النَّبْتُ
For herbage to become soiled with dust and thereby marred or injured.
- Lane · entry 11453
طَفَّلَتِ النَّاقَةُ
For a mother camel to urge her young one onward by rubbing or pushing it, going before it and waiting until it catches up.
A construction describing the care and encouragement of a young animal during movement.
- Lane · entry 11454
طَفَّلَ اللَّيْلُ
For the night to begin to grow dark or draw near.
- Lane · entry 11454
طَفَّلَ الإِبِلَ
To treat camels gently during travel so that their young can catch up with them.
The construction concerns a group of camels accompanied by their young.
- Lane · entry 11454
طَفَّلَ الكَلَامَ
To consider the consequences of speech, reflect on it, or seek to understand its results.
Figurative or extended usage.
- Lane · entry 11454
أَطْفَلَ
For a female to have a young one or to give birth.
Applied to a female human, wild animal, camel, or other animal.
- Lane · entry 11455
تَطَفَّلَ
To intrude uninvited at a feast or impose oneself on someone.
The feast-intrusion usage is reported as established in the speech of the people of Iraq.
- Lane · entry 11456
طَفْلٌ
Soft or tender; also, of a female person, soft or tender.
The feminine form is طَفْلَةٌ; the adjective may be applied to things as well as to a woman or young woman.
- Lane · entry 11457
طَفْلٌ
A yellowish or whitish earth used for scouring or dyeing cloth, also called fuller’s earth.
A regional material term associated particularly with Egypt.
- Lane · entry 11457
طِفْلٌ
A young one or youngling, especially of a beast or wild animal.
A broader Classical application of the noun beyond its Quranic human-child occurrences.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
A part or portion of something, including a small or abstract portion such as a share of anxiety or love.
Extended usage; expressions include طِفْلُ الهَمِّ and طِفْلُ الحُبِّ.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
A falling spark, live coal, or fire just struck.
A figurative or extended material use; the plural is أَطْفَالٌ in the cited expression for scattered sparks.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
Small clouds.
An extended usage attested in poetic citation.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
An object of want, especially a small object of want.
Extended usage, as in the expression أَطْفَالُ الحَوَائِجِ for small wants or needs.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
Night, or the first part of night.
Extended temporal usage.
- Lane · entry 11458
طِفْلٌ
The sun when it is near setting.
An extended temporal usage.
- Lane · entry 11458
طَفَلٌ
A period at the margin of the day: the time after sunrise before full daylight, or the late afternoon and dusk; also the onset or darkness of night.
The lexical reports give contrasting applications at the beginning and end of the day, with related use for the arrival of night and darkness itself.
- Lane · entry 11459
طَفَلٌ
Rain, especially a shower of rain.
Used in expressions for rain associated with the Pleiades or for falling showers.
- Lane · entry 11459
رِيحٌ طَفَلٌ
A wind that blows gently or softly.
- Lane · entry 11459
طَفِلٌ
Herbage that does not become tall.
- Lane · entry 11460
طُفَالٌ / طَفَالٌ
Dry clay.
A dialectal term of Yemen.
- Lane · entry 11461
طَفِيلٌ
Turbid water remaining in a watering-trough.
The feminine form طِفْئِلَةٌ may denote a portion of it.
- Lane · entry 11462
طُفُولِيَّةٌ
The state or condition of being a child: early infancy or, more broadly, childhood.
Related abstract nouns include طُفُولَةٌ and طَفَالَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 11468
طُفَيْلِيٌّ
One who intrudes at feasts uninvited.
The noun is connected with the traditional personal name طُفَيْل, associated with this behavior.
- Lane · entry 11469
طَفَّالٌ
One who sells fuller’s earth.
- Lane · entry 11470
أَطْفَلُ
More or most intrusive and uninvited.
A comparative or superlative adjective associated with the feast-intruder sense.
- Lane · entry 11473
مُطْفِلٌ
A female having a young one, especially one that has recently given birth.
Applied to human females, wild animals, camels, or other females; plural forms include مَطَافِلُ and مَطَافِيلُ.
- Lane · entry 11474
مُطْفِلٌ
Clouds followed by smaller clouds.
An attributed poetic or dialectal application.
- Lane · entry 11474
لَيْلَةٌ مُطْفِلٌ
A night whose cold kills young animals.
A conventional descriptive phrase.
- Lane · entry 11474
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Classical authorities vary on the age boundary of طِفْلٌ, describing it either as the stage before discernment or as extending from birth until puberty; the Quranic contexts reflect the broader child stage and explicitly contrast children with puberty in 24:59.